The VPLS is a layer-2 virtual private network VPN (Virtual Private Network) technology based on the Internet Protocol (IP)/Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and Ethernet. A main purpose of the VPLS is to use a public packet switched network to connect user stations that are separated in physical locations, so that the user stations work as if they are located in a local area network. In a VPLS network, fully-meshed point-to-point pseudo wires PWs (Pseudo Wires) are established between PEs (Provider Edges), and a service provider may provide Ethernet-based multipoint-to-multipoint services for users through an IP/MPLS backbone network. For the purpose of improving reliability of services, normally a CE (Customer Edge) is connected to multiple PEs in the VPLS network through multiple links, which is referred to as multihoming. When a CE-PE link or a PE thereof fails, another link and another PE may still ensure accessibility of services. For the purpose of avoiding a traffic forwarding loop in this networking scenario, one of the multiple PEs connected to the CE is selected as a designated forwarder DF (Designated Forwarder) for traffic forwarding, and meanwhile, through a multihoming information advertisement mechanism or through a manual configuration, a remote PE may learn associations between the multiple PEs connected to the same CE.
According to an existing VPLS processing mechanism, a PE learns Media Access Control (MAC) addresses according to received data packets, and establish a MAC forwarding table. For example, in a VPLS network, fully-meshed PW connections are established between PEs that belong to the same VPLS, where CE1 is dual-homed to access PE1 and PE2, and pseudo wire connections between the PE1 and a remote PE3 and between the PE2 and the PE3 are a PW1 and a PW2 respectively. After the PE1 is elected as a designated forwarder, the PE1 is responsible for forwarding data packets sent to the CE1 and data packets sent by the CE1, and corresponding MAC addresses learned by the remote PE3 from received data packets are associated with the pseudo wire PW1. If the PW1 or PE1 fails, the PE3 broadcasts data packets destined to the CE1 to all remote PEs that belong to a same VPLS instance. This will occupy a lot of precious bandwidth resources of the backbone network and processing resources of the PE3.